Soap dispenser



Feb. 20, 1940. avoom-us SOAP DISPENSER Original Filed Sept. 14, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z 28 4 x7 3 R 1 mm w I M V n 0 0 7. nd m O a, G 1 -I: a 3 8/? 5 444 3 4 1 7 dx 6 /o M. m, 3 3 9 4 3 4 5. .6- 7. I Z 2 B 911/ W B A I 75 7 W ATTORNEY Feb: 20, 1940. e. VOORHIS 2,191,003

SOAP DISPENSER Original Filed Sept. 14, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 T 'i' 1 T115- INVENTOR Gorgon Voorh 1s I W I ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 20, 1940 1 UNITED STATES an on PATENT trips SOAP DISPENSER:

Gordon Vooi'his, Rhinebeck, N; Y., assignor. to

Voorhis-Tiebout Company,

Inc.-, Rhinebeck;

. N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 14, 1936, Serial No. 100,608

Renewed June- 27,, 1939* i 20 Claims.

This application is. in part a continuation, of my co-pending application No. 29,578, filed July 3, 1935, which was also a continuation in part of my still. earlier application which matured into Patent 2,011,128, grantedAugust 13, 1935.

While these successive. applications all describeqapparatus of the same general type for shredding dry soap from cakes thereof and dispensing it in powdered form, each of which comprises a revoluble cutter journaled in the lower The main objects of the present invention are the development of a new form of revoluble cutter which cannot be so mishandled as to break,

instead of evenly shredding, the soap cake; a redesigning of the casing for containing the mechanism so that there is substantially uniform thickness or walls and other molded parts throughout; and a more efficient and smoothly working pressure apparatus for forcing the soap cake against the cutter and at the same time indicating to an observer the size of the unconsumed portion of the cake of soap hidden in the apparatus, while indicating the limit of safe operation on such cake by disappearing from view of the observer.

The best form of apparatus at present known to me embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying two sheets of drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the soap dispensing apparatus in operative. position.

Fig.2 is a vertical section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 showing a cake of soap in position assumed after a small portion has beencut from its lower end.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. i. is a bottom end view of the apparatus.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 55-of Fig. 2.

Fig 6 isa detail viewof the removable door or cross section of the casing looking at the inside of the-same after ithas been. detached fromthe remainder of the-apparatus. t

Fig. 7 is a detail verticalsection similar to Fig. 2,- but looking-in the opposite directionand show.-

ing theparts, inlthe position assumed after. a

cakeof soap has been nearly consumed in-the apparatus, theupperportionof the casing being broken away and the cuttersindicated in; outline onlyby broken lines.

Fig. dis a similar rear elevationof. the apparatus.

Fig. 9 isa diagramillustrating the correct action of the cutters. on=the end ofa cake. of soap, and.

Fig. 10-is a similar .view. showing a. possible result of incorrect useof the apparatus.

' Throughout the drawingslike reference characters indicate like parts.

The casing is-made in-three sectionsincluding the backcase-section indicated generally by the numeral l, the lower front half-section or cover 3 for the cutter chamber, and the upper frontsection orremovable door 31. Holesinthe back portion of the rear case-section I are shown at 2,2, (Figs. 2and 5) through which screwsor V bolts may p'ass to fasten the apparatus to the face of a wall; building partitionor other vertically extending supporting surface. The front-sections 3'and 31 are providedwith edge flanges 5, 5,

which interlock with-cooperating similar ribs on i the front edges of casing i to form interlocking joints when the parts are assembled,,and.1owersection 3 is'held to rear-section I. by screws indicatedin dotted-lines atl, 4, in Fig; 7, and also showing in-Fig; 8.

The door 3'1v has no permanent'connectionto the other sections of the casing, but interlocks therewith by means of'the triangular downwardly extending flange l'projecting from its lower edge and interlocking with" a cooperating lug f similar outline projecting inwardly fromthe inner surface of the upper edge of section 3, and the springlatch l8 fast on the inside of the top wall ofsection l and cooperating with a suitable inwardly extending projection 50 on the upper inside of the door 31,.as. best shown in Fig. 2. To remove the door a bifurcated key 35'has to be pressed down through notches 3 1, 34, formed in the inner edge of the top wall of door 3'! (as best 1 shown in Fig. 6) so as to engage and depress both tongues formed by thebifurcated end of spring latch I8 sufficiently to free them from contact with the door and from engagement with said projection. Thereupon the upper end of said the cutting or shredding tools. "1:

door can be swung outward and its lower end freed from engagement with section 3.

On the inner surface of the door is a vertically extending rib 8 adapted to nest in any properly formed groove in the cake of soap 9 designed for use in the soap dispensers of the type shown here and also in my Patent No. 2,011,128 dated August 13, 1935, the preferred form of groove being there shown at ill in Fig. 1 of the patent drawings, and a portion of said groove being indicated at 19 in Fig. 2 herein. 49, 49, are lugs projecting inwardly from the top wall of the cover as shown in Figs. 2 and 6 to prevent said cover or door 3'! being pushed upward and disengage flange I from the lug 6 so long as the upper end of said door is held in closed positionv by latch 18.

Preferably said latch I 8 is bifurcated by the slot 43 so that the special form of key 35 with spaced apart projections on its end must be used erally indicated at I9 and journaled in the lower part of the casing, comprises the feed pan H which has a V-shaped notch 29 in its front edge corresponding in outline to that of the groove H] in said cake of soap, and a long tension spring which has its upper end connected to said pan by means of a hook formed by stamping outthe tongue 23 from the rear portion thereof, and its lower end extending outside of the lower portion of the casing-section I and anchored at I61 thereon. This pan H has a rearward extension! which projects into and through the vertical groove 44 formed by parallel rearward extensions 39, 39, of the back wall of casing-section "I, and also has welded on the rear portion of its upper surface an upwardly extending finger hook 33 by which it may be lifted up against the tension of spring 15. Hook 33 is directly over tongue 23 so that the pull exerted by the operators finger is in line with the pull of spring t5. On the sides of the forward portion of the pan are the upwardly bent guide lugs l2, 12, which move in guide grooves I3, 13, in the inner surfaces of the walls of section I and cover 31, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 7. The rearward extension M has similarly upwardly bent guide lugs 49,49, which slide along the inner faces of the casing extension walls 39, 39, and against the guide ledges 4|, 4|, formed therein. Another guiding means com prises the channel member ll fastened by rivets 45, 45, to the downwardly extending lug 28 on the rear end of pan-extension l4 and provided with oppositely extending ears 42, 42;which slide along the rear edges of wall extensions 39, 39. As a result, the feed pan is positively held always in a horizontal position as it is pulled or pressed downward by spring I or lifted upward by finger hook 33 and there isno chance of its twisting and binding on its guides at any time, or at any point of its motion. Also, all of these four sets of guide surfaces are ample in area so that friction is slight.

The preferred form of cutter I9 is composed of a plurality of discs 25, 25 (Figs. 2 and 5) each of which has a plurality of peripherally disposed sections all of which are twisted so that their arcuate outer edges extend parallel to the shaft 29 on which the cutter as a whole revolves, said edges being serrated, as shown at 26 to form These discs are spaced apart on shaft 29 by intervening sleeves 43 (Fig. 5) and both sleeves and cutter discs are compelled to rotate with shaft, 29 by key 21 engaging slots in all three members. The serrated edges of the corresponding twisted ears 32, 32, on the successive discs are held in line one with another by said key 21, so that a plurality of lines of cutting teeth like those of a saw extend from one end of the revoluble cutter unit I9 to the other parallel .to the shaft 29. Said shaft is rotated by hand crank 2 i, the outer end of which is preferably provided with the loose sleeve 3! made of any desired moldable non-rusting composition, while the shaft isjournaled in openings 22 formed in the meeting edges of the walls of the casing-sections I and 3. Also the inner faces of the side walls of both these sections are slightly undercut, as shown at 24, 24,'in Fig. 5

and the outermost cutters 29 have their outer corners rotating in said undercut recesses so as to make sure that the cutting action extends to and beyond the side edges of the soap cake.

30 is an opening at the lower end of the casing through which the shredded particles of soap may drop by gravity, and as here shown this is made narrower than the corresponding opening in my before-mentioned Patent No. 2,011,128 to reduce the probabilityv of the users fingers being inserted far enough to reach the cutters.

Reference characters 36, 36, indicate rearwardly extending, semicylindrical portions of the main back walls of casing l, terminating at their outer ends in solid, boss-like sections 38, 38, having their outer faces each slightly cut away along a line parallel to, and slightly outside of, the adjacent outer edges of extension walls 39, 39, as shown more clearly in Fig. 8 at 41, for a purpose hereafter to be explained,and in these bosses the lower bolt holes 2 are molded, as is also well shown in Fig. 2. The end walls of these bosses are made thicker than other portions of the casing walls to withstand the strains caused by pressure on them of the heads of any screws used to fasten said casing to a supporting wall. They project slightly beyond the plane of the rear edges of the extension walls 39, 39, so that the latter are spaced slightly away from the surface of any such wall ,when the apparatus has been installed in position for use. The same is true of the casing ,wall portion 52 in which the upper bolt hole 2 is molded, also as best shown in Fig. 2. This cutting away of the faces of bosses 38, 38, and their projection beyond the edges of the extension walls 39, 39, is done to permit the guide ears 42, 42, of the pan-assembly to move freely between the edges of 39, 39, and any such wall to which the apparatus may be fastened, as best shown in Fig. 3. Such cutting away of these boss faces is done for the purpose of allowing said guide ears to pass between them, as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 8, during the extreme lower portion of the downward movement of the pan- Such dotted line position of the guide ears 42 indicates that assumed when the pan II is bearing directly on the cutters 32 after the fag end of a cake of soap has been removed.

The conjoint result of the above described arrangement of parts is to permit said ears to also serve as a telltale device, since so long as they are visible they indicate that a sufiiciently thick unused portion of the soap cake is still left in the apparatus, but when they disappear between said bosses the user then knows that the cake has been reduced to such a thin residual portion that it should be replaced by a new cake, because otherwise further operation of the machine ,on

it would soon break it up into fragments which I;

might, jam the cutters. The provision. of the projecting cars 42 at the upper corners of the channel member ip'l; accentuates. the above described; telltale function, butthe mere disappearance of. such. channel member, whatever its outline, betweenthe bosses: til; 3& would; serve to notify a user that the soap cake had been. reduced to the danger point of' thinness.

Figs. 9: and 10 are diagrams showing cooperating portions of; the outli es of the cutters 26 and the lower. end of the soap cake 9. The normal operation of the device is indicated in Fig. 9 showing how the lower end of: the soap cake is worn. awaywhile maintaining a smooth arcuate surface, and the result of a. possible erroneous use of the apparatus is indicated in Fig. 10, the thin fins 46 on the opposite edges of the cake El there being shown as the only result of a very restricted oscillation of crank 2i minute angle, in place of. the complete revolution thereof such as occurs in proper use of the apparatus. The point of this illustration is that even if certain users merely oscillate the crank through a few degrees, such resulting misuse can produce only the very thin soap fins 45 shown in Fig. 10 which will be easily and instantly broken down by the nextrevolution the cutters, or by any more ample oscillation of the crank, and without danger of breaking the cake or theapparatus or jamming the parts to any appreciable extent.

. To secure this result it is essential that the cutting unit ill shall have its cutting members such as those formed, by the aligned. serrated edges it of the dlscsectors tililocated along. lines extending substantially parallel to the axis of said revolublecutter unit and spaced apart one from another circumferentially at a uniform distance less than half. the width of the rectangular mouth atthe bottomof the soap-cake guide-passage formed by the casing as hereinbefore described. There will then. always be at least two of such lines of teeth in contact with and operative on any cake of soap which fits snugly insaid passageway, when its lower end is projecting through the mouth thereof and exposed to the shredding. action of the cutter.

Since all the walls .of the casing and the rib are of practicallyuniform thickness, except the small portions 38 and 52,,said casing sections can easily and successfully be molded because the plastic material flows evenly and harclens quickly and uniformly. Also all parts of. the structure expand and contract in unison when subjected to changes in temperature or in atmospheric moisture. Furthermore no material is wasted, and this is accomplished without weakening the casing at those points throughwhich the bolts or screws supporting it are passed. The

exterior of, the casing is free from. exposed metal fittings except at the extreme rear of the side walls, and there the channel member I7 and spring 55 are practicallyhidden against the sup porting walls.

So far as I know I amthe first to have made an apparatus for dispensing dry soap powder out of originally plastic, moldable materials, and after several years of experimentation and prolonged tests under commercial conditions, I have found that the synthetic molda-ble plastic inaterial known Balrelitawhich is a phenolic rosin, orphenol condensation product, is the best for this purpose, though molded urea products will serve.

The reasons why said material alone is satis' through a factory, as. D have. discovered, is. that it can be given. and: will: hold a highly polished surface which. will not be: discolored nor otherwise blemished. by soap. stains; I have experimented for years with" all" kinds of platedmetalsoni the marc heta and with painted and lacquered metals for use in. this: art, but have found, them uniformly unsuitable because the; surfaces of" casings made of them soon become unsightly under service conditions as a result of the corrosive and stain ll) ing action; of the dry soap dustsettling thereon. Such soap dust;.in combinationwith atmospheric moisture, slowly disintegrates the paint and, to aless degree, the lacquer coverings, or corrode the surface oii'plated or of so-called stainless steel, thus rendering them unsightly and practically impossible to clean. As aresult all makes of soap dispensers of the general type herein shown but made; of metal, have been withdrawn. from the market, while those embodying my hereinde- 0 scribed, invention have proven so satisfactory in service andcan be manufactured so cheaply that they have already gone into extensive use. The, special form of spring lock herein shown and described is extremely cheap to make and install, is completely hidden in the casing, and cannot be tripped except by using the special form of. key tehaving a bifurcated'end, since attempts to trip, it" byemploying separate pointed instruments simultaneously inserted through the two notches 33 would require the use of both hands by the person: thus attempting to pick the lock. Consequently he could not thenremove the front casing section 37 after he hadthus freed it by the use of such separate instruments to hold both ends of the bifurcated latch iii in depressed posi- ,vertically guiding a cake of soap, and a spring loclrior automaticallygrasping and holding the upper end of said upper section in such interlocked position whenthe parts are assembled and whichis located whollywithin the closed casing so formed; together with a revoluble cutter journaled between said back section andsaid'lower irontscction.

2. A. device such asdcfined in claim 1 in which saidlock comprises a metal strip anchored on one of said sections andhaving a curved flexible 80 extremity adapted to engage an undercut. portion .ofanother section and hold the same in closed position.

3. A device such as defined in claim 1 in which said lock comprises a metal strip anchored on one of saidsections and having a curved flexible extremity adapted to engage an undercut portion of another section and hold the same in closed position, the edge of one section having a notch through which a key may be inserted to trip said block.

4; A device such as defined in claim 1 in which said loch comprises a metal strip anchored on one-of-said sections and. having a curved flexible 75 extremity adapted to engage an undercut portion of another section and hold the same in closed position, the free end of said metal strip being bifurcated and the wall of one of said casing sections having two openings through which the extremities of a bifurcated key may be inserted to press on and inwardly deflect both said bifurcated strip portions to simultaneously flex them inwardly and thereby trip the lock.

5. A device such as defined in claim 1 made of molded material in which the walls of all sections are of substantially uniform thickness throughout except in limited areas, each of which surrounds a hole in the rear wall of the back section and which are considerably thicker than the remaining wall sections so as to form stronger holding means for any fastening elements extending therethrough.

6. A device such as defined in claim 1 made of molded material in which the walls of all sections are of substantially uniform thickness throughout, and in which said upper front section is provided with a longitudinally extending internal rib of the same thickness adapted to engage a groove in any properly shaped cake of soap contained in .saidcasing.

7. A device such as defined in claim 1 in which said upper front section is provided with a lug projecting inwardly and downwardly from its lower end edge adapted to engage said lower section when said removable section is in position to close the casing, and in whichsaid upper section is also provided with an inwardly projecting lug adapted to engage the inner top portion of said back section and so prevent the front section from being slid upward while in closed position and thereby free said lower lugs from engagement with said lower front section.

1 8. A device such as defined in claim 1 in which said lower front section is provided with a triangular lug projecting inwardly from its upper edge, and said upper front section is provided with a similar lug projecting inwardly from its lower edge and having a downwardly extending border ledge adapted to fit over and closely engage said lug on the lower section whenever said removable section is in position to close the casing, said upper section being also provided'with an inwardly projecting lug adapted to engage the top portion of the back section so as to prevent the front section from being slid upward while in closed position and thereby free said triangular lugs from mutual engagement.

9. A device such as defined in claim 1 in which said latch consists merely of a flat strip of spring metal having one end fastened to one casing section and its free end bent so as to form a lateral projection adapted to engage an'undercut portion of the cooperating casing section when the parts are assembled.

10. A'device such as defined in claim 1 in which said latch consists merely of a flat strip of spring metal having one end fastened to one casing section and its free end bent so as to form a lateral projection adapted to engage an undercut portion of the cooperating casing section when the parts are assembled, and in-which the end wall of such closed casing has a small perforation through which a key may be inserted endwise to push said spring metal strip temporarily out of locking poition.

11. A device such as defined in claim 1 in which the meeting edges of all said sections have longitudinally extending cooperating ribs interlocking one with another to form substantially watertight joints.

12. A soap shredding device substantially such as herein described comprising in combination an elongated casing adapted to contain a cake of soap reciprocable endwise therein and a spring actuated feed pan adapted to press on one end of said cake; said casing having a rear extension of reduced width open at the back formed by walls having guide ledges extending along the I inside of their rear edges, and said pan having guide lugs on its side edges adapted to slide along the inner surfaces of the walls of the soap chan nel therein and a rear projection extending through said casing rear extensionand carrying I a guide member engaging front and back surfaces of said guide ledges; whereby said pan is prevented from twisting and jamming in said casing although the actuating spring pressure is applied to it at a point out of line with said soap cake. 13. In a soap shredding device comprising a casing adapted to be fastened to a building wall and containing a member provided with a guide extension projecting through a slot in the rear thereof and reciprocable therein for forcing one end of a cake of soap against a revoluble cutter, a pair of projections from said casing located one on each side of said slot therein near that end thereof reached by said guide extension whenever such soap cake has been nearly all shredded,

and between which casing projections, said guide extensions may then become hidden, thus affording a visual indication of the necessity of substituting a fresh cake of soap in said casing if the normal operation of said device is thereafter to be continued. a

14. A device such as defined in claim 13 in which said casing projections have perforations therethrough adapted to receive and hold screws or 1other means for fastening said casing to such wa 15. In a device for shredding cakes of soap of rectangular cross section the combination of a casing forming a channel into which such cake will fit closely and can be slid endwise therethrough, a revoluble cutter journaled opposite one end of said channel on an axis extending transversely thereof parallel to its major cross sectional dimension, and means for pressing the adjacent end of such cake against the periphery of said cutter; said cutter comprising a centrally disposed revoluble shaft anda plurality of discs I each mounted on and keyed to said shaft at uniform distances from adjacent discs, and each having its periphery serrated and divided into a plurality of equal sectors on lines extending radially about half way tosaid shaft and each of saidsectors being twisted through an angle of about degrees so that its serrated edge lies substantially in the line of said shaft axis.

16. A dry soap dispensing apparatus comprising the combination, with an elongated substantially closed casing containing a revolubleshredding device in one end thereof having a multiplicity of circimferentially disposed projections adapted to cut into the end of any dry cake of soap pressed against them, and a thin, substantially flat member extending across said casing exterior and reciproca'ble therein from a position tangential to the periphery of said shredding device to one immediately adjacent the opposite end thereof for pushing a cake of soap against said shredding device, of a tension spring having one end connected to said member and the other extending past said shredding device and anchored on said casing at that end thereof; whereby a cake of soap nearly as long as said casing can be inserted therein between said reciprocable member and said shredding device and thereafter said spring may pull said member toward said shredding device until substantially all of said soap cake is consumed by the revolution of said device, thereby avoiding any waste otherwise occurring from the production of an unuseable remnant of each soap cake being dispensed, which said casing has a rear wall adapted to be fastened to a vertically extending support and an opening in its front wall substantially coextensive with the path of said reciprocable member, which latter is provided on its upper surface with a finger hook accessible through said casing opening and has said tension spring connected to its under surface at a point directly beneath said hook; whereby there is no tendency of the opposing pull of said spring and the operators finger engaging said hook to cant said member when it is being lifted for the insertion of a cake of soap thereunder.

17. A soap shredding device substantially such as herein described comprising in combination an elongated casing adapted to contain a cake of soap reciprocable endwise therein and a spring actuated feed pan adapted to press on one end of said cake; said casing having a rear extension of reduced width open at the back formed by walls having guide ledges extending along the inside of their rear edges, and said pan having guide lugs on its side edges adapted to slide along the inner surfaces of the walls of the soap channel therein and also having a portion projecting through said casing, comprising a channel shaped guide member connected with the last mentioned portion of said pan and engaging said guide ledges on the walls of said casing, the rear portions of said channel shaped guide member forming visual indicating means showing the position of the feed pan'within the container.

18. A combination such as defined in claim 17 in which said rear portions of said channel shaped member are provided at their upper, outer corners with oppositely extending V-shaped outlines at points located in a plane slightly below that of said feed pan and thereby serve to render more pronounced said member's action as a visual indication of said pans position.

19. An apparatus such as defined in claim 17 combined with a finger-engaging member mounted on the top surface of said pan and located substantially inside said casing rear extension.

20. An apparatus such as defined in claim 17 in which said casing has two cylindrical bosses formed on its rear face extending therefrom along either side of its said rear extension and beyond the outer edges of the walls thereof a distance slightly greater than that to which said pan-carried guide lugs extend beyond the same and so located that said guide lugs will lie between them whenever the downward movement of said pan has reached a predetermined position at which it is preferable to remove the remainder of the cake of soap then under it and to substitute a new one; said bosses providing fastening means for securing said casing to a wall surface whereby the consequent disappearance of said guide lugs by movement to a position concealed by said bosses automatically indicates the desirability of renewal of the cake of soap in said casing.

GORDON VOORHIS. 

